Study declares NYC subways are dirty.

It seems it’s time to start taking your portable hand wipes next time you catch the subway…

NY Mag: What with the rats, unintentionally self-parodying signs and major layoffs, the MTA hasn’t exactly been swimming in positive press as of late. And the results of a new transit-advocacy group study aren’t going to help. According to the Straphangers Campaign, the city’s subway cars are getting dirtier – half of the 2,200 cars examined were deemed clean in a survey last fall, down from the 57 percent found to be dirt-free in the fall of 2008. And the group fears things will only get worse.

Which makes us wonder should Mayor Bloomberg initiate a day where New Yorkers start catching the subway with portable mops and brooms and dustpans? Or maybe one of those mouse traps one finds in old abandoned warehouses, for the rats that is…

The MTA, which has been cutting subway cleaners to save money, didn’t even bother trying to diffuse blame when questioned by the Journal about the study’s findings:

“Some subway car floors may not be as clean as our customers expect or deserve,” said a statement from the MTA’s New York City Transit.

Of course what you deserve is what you can afford to pay…

The cleanest lines are the 6, 7, N and C, with about two-thirds of the cars on each line considered clean. The V (which will soon be put out of its misery) and the M were found to be the two dirtiest lines.

One day when you least expect it the conductor will step out of his portable unit and start sweeping. We just ask that you raise your feet when he approaches you.

About

I think the idea to start “Scallywag and Vagabond.” (SCV) originates from my myriad background and the many years I have spent in preferred cafes and brasseries extolling the virtues and subtle intricacies of ‘being’ as the Beaujolais ran, the cigarette wafted and the gentleman to my side pontificated while spraying himself with a deftly tied cravat and sun crested idolatry.’

I grew up in Australia where as a young man one was obliged to become a hero of sorts. A master swimmer, fighter of causes, ideals and disheveled denizen of aesthetics, and more often a carefree ‘larrikin’ who would occasionally poke his sun bronzed nose at authority and convention Read More